"My dear, my dear," he said as he drew her near to him, "here's a welcome
that's been ready for you twenty years, you slip of a girl you, with your
mother's eyes. Did you think you could get away from Matilda and me when
we've been waiting for you all this time?"

"I may have thought so, but when I saw her I knew I couldn't; didn't want
to even," she answered him in a low voice that hinted of close-lying
tears.

"Child, Matilda has had a heart trap ready for you ever since you were
born, in case she sighted you in the open. It's baited with a silver
rattle, doll babies, sugar plums, the ashes of twenty years' roses, the
fragrance of every violet she has seen, and lately an aggregation of
every eligible masculine heart in this part of the country has been
added. She caught you fair--walk in and help yourself; it's all yours!"




CHAPTER II

THE RITUAL


"Well, it's a sensation all right, Major," said David as he stood in
front of the major's fire early in the morning after the ceremonies of
the presentation of sketches of the statue out at the Temple of Arts.
"Mrs. Matilda told me the news and helped me sandwich it into my speech
between that time and the open-up talk. People had asked so often who was